Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-04-22
COERCION BILL DEBATE.
MR.. GLADSTONE MAKES ANOTHER
STRONG ARGUMENT.
The Bill Passes to Second Reading
without "A Division-Parnell Denies
the Authorship of the Letter-Dif-
erences In the style of Writing.

LONDON, April 1S-In the House of
Commons tonight when Gladstone arose
he was loudly cheered He said if the bill
passed, the political subscriptions from
America, which some of the speakers had
condemned, were likely to increase, not the
Irish subscriptions alone, but those human
ci ntributions which were rejecting such
8 splendid light upon America. He and his
Supporters had been charged with incon-
sastency in proposing coercion in former
zines and opposing 1t now. He might ad
nit feeling Of shame over the failure of
coercion, but he did not refuse the lessons
yoc experience. He believed, and so seem
Ugly did the conservatives of 1885, that
taough coercion in 1882 reduced the
amount of crime it had made the Irish
more determined than ever to combine
Finding no permanent result from tina
course, the liberals looked to some other
The mandate given at the last election was
TO govern Ireland without coercion. When
the liberals passed the coercion bill they
passed remedial measures also. Were the
governments remedial proposals remedy
or an imposture ? He would withdraw
that expression and say illusion. Did the
government intend to stand or fall by
their relief bill Before they went to the
division tonight he hoped and expected
they would give a clear, unmistakable and
unequivocal answer to that question.
Gladstone complained that the govern
ment withheld from Parliament informa-
zion regarding the state of crime in Ire
land of which there had been no sufficient
increase to justify the bill. The only in
crease was in menaclng letters. Were
these outrages "a voice ''yes.'D Then he
l,in fn hmm 10
but they were always perpetrated by what
was known as the loyal law abiding
party of Ireland" They proceeded from
the most pious persons in the kingdom,
mostly at the time of the disestablishment
of the irish church.
stone commended that the clauses embody.
ing the white boy acts" ought to be set
out in full. The essence of the bill was to
suppress any combination to secure a re
duction of rent. He repealed and repudi-
9ted the allegation that it was the crimes
bill. 1t was not intended to suppress ex-
tstent crimes known TO law, but it was a
OIL that made things crimes that never
we're crimes. A conspiracy was already a
punishable crime, therefore introduction
o conspiring clause in the present bill
might fairly be called nonsense. A ten
9ng refusing to pay rent had prospect
held out to him of obtaining reduction
by becoming bankrupt. At the same
time he would get the benefit of six
months hard labor. 1t was bill aimed
at the nation. The boycotting which was
done IN England, especially among the
upper classes, was done in WantonneSs
IN Ireland it was done for necessity. The
more bills of this kind that We're passed
the more the House would strengthen
Parnells influence.
He had no doubt that the bill would lead
TO an increase of crime and secret societies.
In in ntt,ef
and futile. Combinations in Ireland could
not be suppressed. The question was by
whom were these combinations to be
guided? He maintained by those who
were responsible to Parliament, not by Sc
cret agents. The government were most
IRENE forms of violence. In his
opinion those familiar with the idea
of dynamite and the dagger looked
with satisfaction upon the proceedings of
the present government. In his view the
bill was poison. He would not present
1t to the lips of Ireland. 1t must be pre-
scented by other hands and it would be
an honor and source of happiness to him
20 think he was permitted to have the
smallest share in dashing it to the ground
Gladstone resumed his seat amid loud
cheers.
Sir Bernard Samuelson's amendment to
the crimes bill to the effect thakthe bill,
if passed, would increase the disorder in
ireland and endanger the union and the
empire, and therefore should be rejected
was defeated in the House of Commons
tonight, $40 to 2G9 and the second read.
ing of the crimes bill was agreed to with
out division.
The Parnell Letter.
LONDON, April 1S.-In an interview to-
day Parneli pointed out that although at
first sight some of the letters in the Times
fac smile printed this morning appeared
to resemble his autograph, close COM
parison shows decided and striking diff
ference in many important points. The
forgery slopes upward, the genuine hand
writing downward. Parnell always places a
full point after the initial "S." in his name
which the forgery omits The "r" in
"Parnell and &C" in "Chas" are quite diff
terent from anything he has ever written.
The letters in och" In "Chas" are abnor-
mally long and the "S." and "P" are the
only letters in any way resembling his
genuine autograph. The pen at the be-
ginning of the "a" in the forged "Chas."
was evidently taken off the paper, where
as In the genuine signature it is always
written without a break. The forgery,
Parnell says, is the work Of person ac-
customed to penmanship and writing
flowing hand, whereas his own writing
IS always in a cramped style. Parnell
further said the letter and signature were
impudent forgeries and he strongly sus-
pected the identity of the forger. He was
undecided whether to prosecute the Times
or not.